Archive for the ‘Swedish Life’ Category

Philips unveils latest wake-up light campaign

Business, Climate, Design, Film, Marketing, Media, Miscellaneous, Offbeat, Science, Society, Swedish Life, Technology, Tourism: October 29th, 2010 by VT

Philips’ advertising campaigns for the wake-up light have historically challenged the prestige of the product, testing the wake-up light’s mettle in real life. In this latest campaign, the test is on an epic scale.

Watch the clip for the trailer here.

Philips travels to Longyearbyen, Norway, where winter lasts for four months and the sun doesn’t rise at all in this period. A town where the local people look with dread to the winter months: a time of little enjoyment and confusion. A period when, without the differentiation of day and night, time itself is without meaning.

Enter Philips and the wake-up light with a simple mission: to restore residents Longyearbyen’s daily routine and help them combat the negative impact of living without natural light for four months.

The wake-up light simulates sunrise, allowing users to, perhaps not surprisingly, wake up in an environment similar to a bright summer’s day. The theory behind the experiment is that this will combat the negative effects of waking, living and then going to sleep in darkness and should help the user readjust to a more natural cycle.

The full footage for the experiment will be released in November. Will it work? Wait and see.

CNN highlights Sweden alongside Malaysia for ‘fine island groups’

Swedish Life, Tourism: September 13th, 2010 by VT

At first glance, Sweden and Malaysia appear to have little in common given the vast differences in their climates. However, CNN highlighted both countries for a Friday report on some of the world’s finest island groups.

Swedish women narrowly top Denmark in Women’s World Cup football playoff

Sport, Swedish Life: September 13th, 2010 by VT

The Sweden women’s football team narrowly topped Denmark in Women’s World Cup playoff action on Saturday in Gothenburg at Gamla Ullevi, winning 2-1.

NHL predicts continued HV71, Djugården battle for Elitserien supremacy

Sport, Sweden abroad, Swedish Life: September 13th, 2010 by VT

The NHL website gave a sneak peek on Wednesday of the upcoming Elitserien season, which begins this week, coming strongly in favour of defending champion HV71 from Linköping and runner-up Djurgården in the race for the 2011 title. Writer Bill Meltzer also took note of talent that has left the league to play in the NHL in the upcoming season and looked back at Swedish stars from years past.

City living can drive people crazy, says Swedish study

Health, Miscellaneous, Swedish Life: September 13th, 2010 by VT

A study conducted by a Welsh researcher of more than 200,000 Swedes in their late 20s and mid-30s suggests increased social fragmentation in large cities may partially explain why psychotic disorders are more common in urban areas, researchers have suggested, the findings, published on Tuesday, show.

Swedish singer José González interviewed by CNN

Music, Swedish Life: September 10th, 2010 by DL

Following on the heels of CNN’s interview with Swedish singer Robyn earlier this week, the cable news channel turned its attention to Gothenburg native José González, who, despite his Argentinian origins, revealed he feels Swedish first and foremost.

Dolph Lundgren vs. Unicorn

Film, Marketing, Media, Miscellaneous, Music, Offbeat, Swedish Life, Technology: September 10th, 2010 by VT

These were uploaded on Thursday:

Dolph Lundgren grills a unicorn

Dolph Lundgren loses his head

Just in case you missed it the first time, here’s Lundgren’s rendition of Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation” at Melodifestivalen in February.

Hollywood Millennium’s Lisbeth spotted in Stockholm prepping for film

Books, Film, Marketing, Media, Miscellaneous, Opinion, Swedish Life, Tourism: September 9th, 2010 by VT

Rooney Mara was spotted on the streets of Stockholm on Wednesday going to a gym and heading to a language school, where she is reportedly learning to speak English with a Swedish accent, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.

CNN hits the Millennium trail in Stockholm

Architecture, Books, Business, Film, History, Marketing, Media, Miscellaneous, Offbeat, Society, Swedish Life, Tourism: September 9th, 2010 by VT

CNN follows the flocks on tourists on the Millennium tour of Stockholm on Wednesday.

Swedish street prostitution cut in half thanks to law

Economics, Miscellaneous, National, Opinion, Politics, Swedish Life: September 9th, 2010 by VT

Street prostitution has been cut in half, “a direct result of the criminalization of sex purchases,” the Christian Science Monitor wrote on Tuesday.

Robyn waxes poetic on Sweden in CNN interview

Miscellaneous, Music, Swedish Life: September 9th, 2010 by VT

Swedish singer Robyn appeared on CNN on to talk about her love for Sweden and how the country inspires her music.

The New York Times goes House Hunting in … Stockholm

Architecture, Miscellaneous, Sweden abroad, Swedish Life: September 9th, 2010 by VT

The New York Times goes House Hunting in … Stockholm and profiles a 4.5 million kronor ($620,000) two-bedroom apartment in Östermalm in its Great Homes and Destinations section on Tuesday.

Quirky art and herring tasting in western Sweden

Opinion, Swedish Life, Tourism: August 30th, 2010 by VT

Chicago Sun-Times’ David Hoekstra visits Sculpture at Pilane in Tjörn, one hour north of Gothenburg, and takes part in a herring tasting at Salt & Sill, a restaurant and floating hotel on the Marstrand Fjörd.

The magic of Google Analytics

Business, Health, Marketing, Media, Miscellaneous, Music, Newsbites, Offbeat, Society, Swedish Life, Technology: July 23rd, 2010 by VT

Sometimes older articles on The Local find new life weeks, months or even years after they are initially published when they are picked up by external sites.

Recent examples of this are a sudden spike in traffic of 8,000 readers on June 16th to Swedish parents keep 2-year-old’s gender secret, initially published nearly a year earlier on June 23rd, thanks to a pickup on i am bored.

More recently, on July 8th, Cracked.com cited our article Black Cobra gang steals selection of small cakes from March in a roundup of 5 bizarre real-life gangs, sending 4,700 readers our way to read about their exploits that merited the mention (they came in 3rd).

This week alone, we’ve seen a significant spike on Artists lose out as fans stop burning CDs and Cerebral palsy fraudster gets 3 years in jail thanks to Fark and Swedish women vote to keep their tops on thanks to reddit.

How can we narrow down the dates, numbers and sources of the traffic coming to our site? Google Analytics. We could spend hours tooling around to see where people are coming from to our site, but we would never get any work done.

We love to see where our stories end up on the Internet, so please feel free to share any articles (old or new) that amuse or enrage you from our site (using the buttons at the bottom of each story or elsewhere). And don’t forget to check out our new and improved Facebook page.

Stockholm Oranje fans pull out all stops for World Cup runners-up

Miscellaneous, Sport, Swedish Life, Tourism: July 12th, 2010 by VT

No one can accuse the Dutch for not throwing a great party whether they win or lose. After being told at the door of the Dutch embassy that it was full on Sunday for the World Cup final against Spain, as soon as the staff of De Hollandse Club Stockholm heard about The Local, it was all smiles and a warm welcome in.

Pre-game show

Wandering into the courtyard, a big-screen TV broadcast a live Dutch feed with the names of the evening’s sponsors spliced in was the focus of the attention of the crowd. Organisers estimated 550 people watched the game, with the event costing about 70,000 kronor ($9,300).

Big screen for big crowd

There was indeed orange, orange everywhere – jerseys (one curiously with “Björklund” on the back), hats, one vuvuzela, shoes, pants, suspenders, furry lobster pendants, wigs, blow-up plastic crowns. However, the face paint was clearly the red, white and blue (the stripes in that order) of the Dutch flag and the hand stamp for re-entry when leaving the premises happened to be a red, white and blue crayon. In addition to Dutch fans, there were also a number of Swedes and English speakers of all accents among the crowd among the lucky ones who arrived early enough for entry.

A fan with an orange-hooded (!) Dutch flag toots on her orange vuvuzela

They also lived up to the promise of Dutch beer at Dutch prices – Grolsch at 30 kronor, as well as wine-in-a-box and soft drinks. Curiously, the bitterballen (Dutch pub snack food) were free. Only when those ran out did they starting charging minimally for the kroketten.

One does not truly feel short until he or she watches the World Cup final with a Dutch crowd – ironically forcing one to the back of the viewing area. After the crowd of Dutch fans who were denied entry finally dispersed well into the second half, seven-year-old Emilia Bouterse, a Stockholmer with a Swedish mum and Dutch dad, still lingered on at the front door, seemingly indifferent to the action on the big screen.

Stockholmer Emilia Bouterse, 7, whose father is Dutch, with Swedish mum Johanna

There were many gasps, jeers and cheers throughout the game for each of the numerous yellow cards shown depending on which team they were directed to, as well as every corner and free kick. Most audible were the shouts of relief when Nigel de Jong did not get a red card for kicking Xabi Alonso in the chest.

Interspersed throughout the game, as well as pre-match and during half-time was a DJ blasting out of the loudspeakers, as well as typical Black Eyed Peas fare in addition to classic Dutch favourites. In addition to the lone orange vuvuzela, other decible-shattering horns blew intermittently, peppered with “Holland!” clapping chants and oddly, “¡Olé Olé Olé!” once or twice.

The red card shown to Johnny Heitinga in extra time seemed to signal a turn for the worse and hinted that the game in the end might not go to penalty kicks, but there was not any excessive shouting at the screen for the decision. There were also nary but groans when Andres Iniesta finally scored four minutes before the end of the game.

As the final whistle blew, a palpable disappointed silence fell over the courtyard of the Dutch embassy as the fans streamed out to Götgatan to meet the oncoming jubilant Spain supporters, but the mood remained festive and cheerful in spite of the loss. However, there is no doubt there would have been partying all night had Oranje won – the line for beer disappeared instantly when Iniesta scored.

The bitter but happy end

Sweden’s ‘socialist nightmare’ on The Daily Show

Media, Swedish Life: April 23rd, 2009 by PO

Sweden is often demonised in some quarters stateside as a socialist nightmare where suicide is a national sport and abject misery is the norm. The Daily Show investigates, with hilarious consequences:

Part 1…

… and Part 2

Sweden on the brink of Eurovision war

Media, Music, National, Opinion, Politics, Swedish Life: March 18th, 2009 by PO

Everybody panic! The Local has inadvertently sparked what the Swedish press is referring to as the ‘Tingeling Crisis’.

Now as crises go, it’s hardly Cuba or the Berlin Blockade. But in a land such as Sweden, gripped with Eurovision fever, revelations that the Russians were less than pleased with an interval song and dance number at the Melodifestivalen final have quickly spread far and wide.

It started innocently enough: communist whores with red stars on their panties, rampant Russian gangsters, wild Cossack dancers and a bear on a chain… what could possibly go wrong?

“We do not react to eccentricity by some lunatics whose Russophobia should place them in an asylum rather than on Globen’s stage,” the embassy told The Local on Monday morning.

Oh, that.

Regional tabloid giant Aftonbladet led the charge with a front page splash and the rest of the Swedish papers soon followed.

Like political voting patterns at the Eurovision, the situation soon spiraled out of control:

State broadcaster SVT sent a bouquet of flowers to the Russian embassy as a gesture of goodwill. The embassy responded that, as far as it was concerned, the danger had passed and Euro-harmony could prevail.

Expressen said SVT was foolish to have apologised.

The state broadcaster said it never really had apologised and the retraction was retracted.

The comedian behind the skit said he might have to rethink a planned Trans-Siberian railroad trip this summer .

The Social Democrats’ foreign policy spokesman said the Swedish foreign ministry should stand up for freedom of expression.

Even Vladimir Lenin was dusted off and dragged into the debate.

Furthermore, the finer points of Russian sensibilities and Swedish humour have been discussed at length on television and radio talk shows.

The upshot: Nuclear war has been averted for now. But never again must we allow such a frightening array of outdated clichés to threaten our peace and security.

—

In case you missed it, here’s the clip that almost pushed us to the brink:

Swede tries to introduce ID numbers to New Zealand

Sweden abroad, Swedish Life: January 8th, 2008 by PR

“Do not most developed countries have personal ID numbers for their citizens? Should not New Zealand follow this order?”

Thus wondered Cecilia Hall, a Swede trying to establish an au pair business in New Zealand. Cecilia’s father, Ian, a Brit resident in Sweden for 37 years, moved to NZ to be with his daughter but found himself credit-blacklisted shortly after he arrived. It turns out that there’s another person in New Zealand called Ian Hall and – well, you get the idea.

Cecilia offered more advice from the developed world:

“The only way you can ever protect [against] this happening in New Zealand is for people to have unique identifiers,” she said.

Swedish Idol runner-up – Amanda Jenssen

Music, Swedish Life: December 7th, 2007 by PO

Amanda Jenssen lost the final of Idol 2007 by a whisker. Here are the three songs she performed in the final…

… and an earlier performance of Baby Can I Hold You Tonight.

Should she have won? Or was Marie Picasso a worthy victor? Or maybe the competition should be scrapped, never to return?

Swedish Idol winner – Marie Picasso

Music, Swedish Life: December 7th, 2007 by PO

Marie Picasso wins Idol 2007. The first song she performed in the final was All By Myself:

And here is an earlier performance of her second song, I’ll Be There:

Was the Swedish viewing public right to give her the nod? Should Amanda have won? Or is the whole thing a pile of steaming garbage?